Although it’s not native to here, I did spend some time the other day watching Zebra Finches in the pet store when I was picking up some dog food. I figured, hey, maybe it’s not native to here but I did see it in San Diego so I sketched it when I got back.

So, I’ve noticed that I’ve just been drawing birds that are interesting on Pinterest… and since this blog is supposed to be more about San Diego birds, I’ve decided to see if I can go through and sketch all the most common birds here. So, although I’ve never seen one, here is a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, which remind me of White-crowned Sparrows in the fact that they are rockin’ the fun hair.

I’ve noticed that I’ve not been sketching as much lately, so I’ve decided to start posting a sketch a week on Wednesdays. I got watercolors for Christmas, so now I’ll be switching back and forth from the watercolor pencils and straight watercolors.

I figured that I would mark the change with the most common bird in my backyard, a House Finch.

Little sketch I did around Christmas. When you look at Christmas bird art, it’s always cardinals which doesn’t really apply in Southern California… so I thought that I would draw some Lesser Goldfinches instead. I’ve been getting quite a few around them here because I’ve started hanging nyjer seed sock in the backyard. So I’ve started associating them with winter.